Technology is often credited with revolutionizing the way we do business. And that’s true to some extent. 20 years ago, many of today’s most successful businesses weren’t just unheard of: they were impossible. But underneath it all, some things have remained true: Business is a matter of relationships, first and foremost, and of no business is that more true than real estate. People buy their homes from people they trust, and a lot of work goes into maintaining those relationships. However, you can use technology to help maintain them. How?

Your real estate business has always been mobile – ironically, real estate agents are proverbial for spending a lot of time out of the office. Using tools like mobile-friendly CRMs means your agents can report right back to the office at the moment of an open house, keeping clients’ files updated easily and quickly.

Now, not only are agents mobile: their clients are too. Potential buyers are shopping online before and after they talk to agents – and sometimes even while they’re talking. They’re using Google Maps to look the place over and Facebook to ask their friends about it. Mobile-friendly web content encourages conversions.

That means:

– Responsive website design that adapts to screen size and OS of the device that’s being used to view it.
– Mobile presentation apps let agents get information across to customers on the move.
– Social content should be optimized for this.
– Video that can be displayed on phones or tablets can make a huge difference: have some on YouTube, where it will accrue SEO benefits, and embed it in your website and link to it from social.
-Communication is rendered easier and faster with Skype, Hangouts and mobile. Expect tech-savvy younger customers to want to talk over services like these, and provide them.

What are the biggest tech trends in real estate right now?

– Property Management: technology that allows owners and managers to track real estate assets. This mostly applies to commercial real estate – for now.
– Tech-enabled Listings Services: Tech-enabled listings services could move the whole real estate purchase cycle out of agents’ hands, at least potentially, by moving away from static listings to a dynamic marketplace model.
– Research and Analytics: The last few years have shown that tech is great for collecting data and also excellent at analyzing and interpreting it. A better understanding of how your company really operates and how it’s performing could be the result.

Real estate may always be a relationship-based business. Marketplaces might simply move that relationship online, or it’s possible that they could offer a whole new way of doing business. The analytics that emerge from analysis of real data on sales and work and money flows could revolutionize the industry, or just confirm what we already know. But getting behind the explosion in mobile and content consumption that characterizes the contemporary client is a must.